RALEIGH – The North Carolina Department of Transportation awarded the I-40/440 Rebuild contract to the team of Granite Construction Company and RS&H Architects-Engineers-Planners Inc. today.

The project, which requires rebuilding 11.5 miles on the southern section of I-40/440, is part of a 10-year plan to alleviate congestion and improve mobility in the Triangle.

In March, the department opened bids from four design-build teams, and Granite/RS&H had the lowest bid of $130,129,000. NCDOT engineers estimated the project would cost $193,428,882.

After opening the bids, NCDOT Secretary Tony Tata asked engineers and outside consultant groups to conduct a further review of all aspects of the project, including the road condition, travelers’ safety and traffic impacts, before making a final decision to proceed.

“The Department needed to ensure we’re taking the right steps on a project that will impact nearly everyone that lives in, works in or travels through Wake County,” he said. “The additional work has verified this section of I-40 is a present day safety issue. Knowing this project has been planned for more than three years; we have taken a fresh look and identified additional measures to address traffic and safety concerns.”

The department will work with Granite and RS&H, who are responsible for designing and building the project, to leave three lanes open in each direction on the I-40 portion of the project, instead of two, which will greatly reduce traffic backups in and around the project area.

“As a trusted leader in the transportation industry, Granite has successfully built innovative, award-winning projects across the country,” said Granite Construction Executive Bob Lofling. “A large part of Granite’s culture is partnering for success. Our goal is to partner with NCDOT to proactively build strong relationships with stakeholders, including local communities and the traveling public, to ensure that we are transparently communicating plans, schedules and other construction-related issues in a way that allows for the least impact possible to residents and motorists during construction.”

Knowing that the rebuild will affect traffic around the region, NCDOT launched an outreach campaign in July, 2012 to educate people about the project. The NCDOT team met with stakeholders, including first responders, hospitals, municipalities, schools and businesses.

Now that the contract has been awarded, NCDOT and Granite will conduct another major outreach push during the next few months to make sure these stakeholders and the public are aware of the contractor’s specific plans and schedule, and encourage commuters to help alleviate congestion through the project zone by considering: an alternate route, working an alternate schedule or taking an alternate mode of transportation. Currently, 110,000 cars travel every day on the stretch of I-40 that will be under repair, and NCDOT wants at least 30,000 cars to divert from the project area.

To help, NCDOT is allocating up to $12 million to create bus routes from Johnston County into Raleigh and increase frequency on current bus routes for the life of the project.

The project entails rebuilding 11.5 miles on I-40/I-440 -- from west of Jones Franklin Road in Cary to north of U.S. 64/264 in Raleigh. The road is more than 30 years old, and it is crumbling due to a chemical reaction between the rock and the cement. In a phased approach, Granite will re-route traffic lanes, remove at least two feet of pavement and base, and replace the pavement, shoulders and ramps.

Four design-build teams made technical presentations about their plans in March, each earning a technical score that is taken into account in selecting the winning team. Design-build contracts are awarded based on a two-stage evaluation process that includes short-listing contractors and designers and evaluating proposed designs. A team of NCDOT engineers then assigns a technical score to each proposal. Both the actual bid from each short-listed team and its technical score are taken into account when awarding the contract.